ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2485 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2485 ************************************ 7 May 2002 From: Raquel Buenaventura Greetings from the Academy of St. Gabriel! You wrote to us asking whether would be a good recreation of an Italian woman's name for the late 1400s. You also indicated that if was not an authentic name for the time and place you were interested in, you would also be willing to use . was used in Italy during the fifteenth century, and , which was in use during the Middle Ages, may have been used into the 1400s.[1] [2] would have been pronounced as \dohl-TCHEE-nah\ and as \DOHL-tchay\. Either is probably appropriate for you to use, although there is more evidence for . is a diminutive form of the given name . and its variants were common in medieval and renaissance Italy [2]; the form appears in 15th century Florentine records. We haven't found an example of , but we have found other 15th century diminutives that use the suffix <-ita>, e.g. [3]. There are some examples of women's names being used as family names during this time, so is a plausible surname for a fifteenth- century Italian woman.[4] is not a correct surname: The word "of/from the [feminine]" was used in Italian local bynames, i.e. surnames that identified a person by a topographic feature near which he lived, like "from the valley" [5]. Surnames were formed from given names in a number of ways, the most common being , which was originally used to mean "child of Luca" [6]. Another form with the same kind of meaning is "child of Benino" [5]. Some family names were formed from feminine given names, like [3], so and are plausible. The plural form of a given name could also give rise to a family name, e.g. , [5], so by itself is another plausible form. By your period, many or most Italian family names were inherited, at least among the upper classes, so your surname wouldn't necessarily have been understood literally. That is to say, you might have been known as simply because your father's surname was . To sum up, is probably an appropriate name for an Italian woman living during the late 1400s, and is an excellent name. is not a correct form, but you could use , , , or as a surname; and any of these in combination with or would create a plausible fifteenth-century Italian name. I hope that this letter has been helpful. Please do not hesitate to write again if any part of it was unclear, or if you have other questions. I was assisted in researching and writing this letter by Maridonna Benvenuti, Talan Gwynek, Arval Benicoeur,Aryanhwy merch Catmael, Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn and Julie Stampnitzky. For the Academy, Raquel Buenaventura May 7, 2002 ____________________________ [1] Rhian Lyth, "Italian Renaissance Women's Names" (WWW: J. Mittleman, 1996) http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/rhian/italian.html. [2] De Felice, Emidio, _Dizionario dei nomi italiani_ (Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, Milan, 1992). s.nn. Dolcino/Dolcina, Laura [3] Ferrante laVolpe, _Family Names Appearing in the Catasto of 1427_ (WWW: Self-published, 1996; J. Mittleman, 1999). http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/ferrante/catasto/family_names.html [4] Herlihy, David and Christiane Klapisch-Zuber, "Census and Property Survey of Florentine Domains in the Province of Tuscany, 1427-1480", Machine readable data file. Online Catasto of 1427 Version 1.1. Online Florentine Renaissance Resources: Brown University, Providence, R.I., 1996 http://swansong.stg.brown.edu/projects/catasto/overview.html. [5] David Herlihy, R. Burr Litchfield, and Anthony Molho, eds., "Florentine Renaissance Resources: Online Tratte of Office Holders 1282-1532" (WWW: Brown University, Providence, RI, 2000), specifically "List of Surnames (Surnam1) in the Tre Maggiori" http://www.stg.brown.edu/projects/tratte/doc/SURNAM1.html [6] Herlihy, Litchfield, and Molho, "A Note on Names" http://www.stg.brown.edu/projects/tratte/doc/n-names.html